WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 209: Class Reunion

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The War Mage, the pride of the military state, was a dignified heroine. Yet the sight of Prelvior, a model soldier respected by countless citizens, spinning through the air while spraying light was rather ridiculous.

Her rank was high and the situation was urgent, so nobody could bring themselves to laugh. Except for one person.

"Haha! Granny! Has your stream gotten weak with age? It's spraying everywhere!"

Partlaxion cackled shamelessly. The generals running beside him could not laugh for an entirely different reason. The joke was too crude for them to laugh along.

His booming voice reached Prelvior as well. Her stern face twisted fiercely.

"Quiet! Can't you hurry over and help while your elder is working?!"

"Wait a little! I'm almost there! Hey! Gand! Spear!"

"Here!"

After receiving a spare spear from his adjutant, Partlaxion planted his right foot and came to an abrupt stop. Veins bulged across his shoulder. Pulling his arm back, he put all the force of his run into the spear and threw it.

Whoosh. The spear shot forward with a heavy roar. Just before it left Partlaxion's fingertips.

"Hup!"

His tensed fingers seized the shaft again. At the same time, he straightened his bent knee and kicked off the ground. Partlaxion clung to the spear he had thrown and flew through the air.

He soared in an arc and landed in the middle of the battlefield. Driving the spear into the ground, he pushed himself upright and charged in boldly.

Absolute Spear had joined the battle. The regressor leaped up and shouted.

"Tyrkanzyaka! Take on Absolute Spear!"

"Wait just a moment. I must teach that insolent brat a lesson..."

"Finish him quickly and go help him!"

Tyr glanced toward me, pressed her lips together, and followed the order. Turning away from the War Mage, she moved to face Absolute Spear and the generals following him.

"Progenitor! Your opponent is..."

"Me! I'll take you on!"

"Hah. Such a green youngster...!"

"Why is everyone making such a fuss over my age? It's pissing me off from every direction! Do you have any idea how complicated I feel right now?!"

"Even your manner of speaking is foul!"

Prelvior gathered mana as she lectured her.

She had used up all the light she had stored, but fire produced more than light. Heat had the power to turn air into wind. The Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains reused the heat it had accumulated and pushed out a gale. Her cloak, filled with wind, spread wide.

"Preset, Pascal!"

The wind lifted Prelvior high into the air. Even the heavy container rolled helplessly across the ground before the violent north wind. It was a raging force closer to a waterfall than mere wind.

Within it, the regressor raised Skywarbler.

"Hmph. Sorry, but wind isn't yours alone!"

Skywarbler was a treasure that held the power of the heavens. Containing space itself, it could freely control wind and clouds.

The Heavenly Sword Technique was a magical sword technique that drew out that power through mana and ki. The regressor swung Skywarbler through the pouring wind.

Heavenly Sword Technique, Plantain.

"This is... magic!"

The regressor cut through the raging storm in a single stroke and advanced. Prelvior saw the wind split apart before the sword strike, then shouted in fury.

"At your age, you've mastered both magic and ki, so why...! Why are geniuses always so selfish?!"

"...Thanks for the compliment, but hearing the word genius doesn't make me feel anything anymore!"

"I can't forgive this any longer! If you've been blessed with that much talent, you should be grateful before thinking of wielding it! I won't let you run wild across this nation's land like some heedless child any longer!"

Prelvior's roar thundered across the battlefield.

Compared to the fierce fighting over there, nothing passed between Ria and me. No attacks, accusations, shouting, or anything else. We had only exchanged a brief glance.

Still, we couldn't keep standing here forever. I set the box on my back down by my feet, took out a mana cigarette, and offered it to Historia.

"Want one?"

Historia stared at me, then accepted the mana cigarette. When she put it between her lips, I raised a finger as if on cue and touched it to the tip of the cigarette.

"Set, Re. Fahrenheit."

Flames rose from the tip of my gauntlet. As Historia inhaled, the hot fire was drawn into the mana cigarette, which slowly began to burn as it soaked up the flame.

She took a deep drag. The moment Historia tasted the smoke, her expression loosened.

'The taste... is strangely good. What is this? Because he lit it...?'

"Nice, right? Calling it top-shelf doesn't even do it justice. I heard it was made with World Tree leaves."

'...No way. The mana cigarette itself is just good.'

Mana cigarettes had a calming effect. This one was a special product made with World Tree leaves. Since it was high quality, its effects were excellent too, and Historia's agitation subsided considerably.

Naturally, smoking came before school ties. Now that I had gotten her to inhale some smoke, perhaps I could emphasize our shared history and buy a little time.

"This takes me back. Remember? You were bad at formal magic, so whenever you smoked mana cigarettes, you always had to borrow someone else's flame."

I brought up old memories to kill time, but Historia did not entertain any more small talk.

"What's with that ugly armor? You came armed, huh. Are you planning to beat me?"

"It's not like I could ever beat you. This is just for protection. I put it on so I wouldn't get blown away if I got caught up in the fighting."

"That's all?"

"Of course. What help would armor even be?"

As if agreeing, Historia exhaled smoke. Since I was facing into the wind, it drifted toward me. I had quit mana cigarettes a while ago, yet the scent lingering at the tip of my nose still felt refreshing.

Did I want another because the mana cigarette was high quality? Or because I had met an old smoking buddy after so long?

"If you don't intend to fight."

Historia hooked the chain with her fingertips. The long chain returned to her hand like an obedient animal. She rattled it menacingly and ordered me.

"Hold out your arms. I'll restrain you and take you to the Public Security Bureau."

"Just me?"

"You first."

"What's the charge?"

"You choose. What should I arrest you for?"

'Murder, perjury, rebellion, fraud, and obstruction of official duties. I could pin any charge I want on you. If you killed 161 people in Hamelin like that, the charges don't matter anymore.'

It seemed she still firmly believed what happened that day was my fault. How was I supposed to clear up this misunderstanding?

No, should I clear it up?

Either way, not getting caught came first. I made the most harmless gesture I could.

"Ria. You know I didn't do it."

"I'll hear the details in the interrogation room, Hui. You won't leave until you've told me the whole truth."

'Even if he confesses, there's no guarantee I'll let him go. Either way, I won't let that tongue of his keep wagging.'

It was frightening when someone I knew from the past became an enemy. She knew me so well that she wanted to restrain me first instead of exchanging many words.

I had teased her countless times in the past, so she would not carelessly play along with psychological tricks either. In that case.

I didn't want to do this, but I should dig into her guilt.

"Why are you blaming me? You're the one who should confess the truth."

I gripped my mask and lifted it off. My bare face was exposed. My eyes dried out in the wind blowing against me.

Even so, I opened them wide and filled every expression with resentment.

Then I blamed her.

"You were the one who was wrong first."

"..."

"If you had saved me in time, none of this would have happened. Why did you turn away from me at the last moment?"

I drove in one final nail at the silent Historia.

"What makes you any different from them?"

The truth was, I knew. I had read Historia's thoughts then and now, so there was no need to question her. That was why I had faked my death without any lingering attachment and headed for the capital.

Dragging this out now was solely to provoke her guilt.

Yet Historia was far firmer than I had expected.

"I'm not different."

There was too much she wanted to say to me, and too much she needed to hear. She was not someone who would miss an opportunity over a little guilt.

Historia removed the mana cigarette from her lips. The ember held its breath for a moment, then gave off a wisp of startlingly clear smoke.

"So surrender. While I'm still one of the Six Generals."

'While I'm the military state's daughter, while I'm still a diligent soldier. If it's any later, or if you become even more dangerous... I won't be able to save you either.'

If that was the case, she could have simply not tried to capture me in the first place. Why had she become one of the Six Generals and kept pursuing me while believing I was alive?

If she had pretended not to see me, I would have lived well enough on my own.

I glared at her resentfully for a moment. Then Historia offered me the half-smoked mana cigarette in the friendliest gesture she could manage.

Back when mana cigarettes had been hard to get, we had even shared a single stick. She seemed to want to reassure me at least a little through that old gesture.

If I let myself get caught, I could probably survive if I handled things well. I was willing to honestly spill every piece of information I had to save my life, and perhaps the military state would believe me and forgive me. Above all, my classmate was one of the Six Generals, so I had that backing too.

But if I didn't get caught in the first place, that was that. Why should I trust a single lifeline and tumble into an even more dangerous place?

And before that.

"Ah. I didn't mention this."

The cool scent of the mana cigarette tickled my nose, but I deliberately looked away and shrugged.

"I quit mana cigarettes."

The silence that followed was heavy. Everything around us grew so quiet that I briefly wondered if the wind had stopped.

A beat later, Historia muttered.

"...Did you?"

At the same time, Historia dropped the mana cigarette. Her military boot violently crushed the ember on the ground. Having steeled herself, Historia glared at me with fierce eyes.

"I'll settle this by force, Hui. You might pass out, so grit your teeth."

"Wait. Before that, I have one more gift."

Just before Historia approached, I kicked open the lid of the box. The latch released, and the tightly sealed surprise box revealed what was inside. White smoke billowed out.

As if she had expected it, Historia heightened her guard and prepared to fight.

'Of course. You wouldn't come unarmed. But Hui, this time, just surprising me won't be enough.'

In the tense atmosphere, the first thing to emerge from the thick smoke was a long, pleased sound.

"Nyaaa-. Nya. Ah?"

A cat's cry, accompanied by such a deep yet refreshing scent. Historia caught the smell and furrowed her brow.

'Wait, this smoke is from the mana cigarette just now?'

"You liked cigarettes and cats, right? Here, a gift. This surprise box has a smoking cat. A gift you'll like twice as much!"

Nabi had been sleeping soundly within the box, which was filled with happy smoke. But as the fierce wind swept across the belt, the smoke scattered in an instant. Nabi reached out with bleary eyes, trying to catch the dispersing smoke.

Yet all she felt was fierce, cold wind.

Nabi opened her eyes. Flailing through the air in vain, she realized once again how strong the wind was where she stood.

"NYAAAAAAAAAA!"

Then she became furious at the wind that had stolen her happiness. To vent that rage, she leaped out of the box and looked around.

Naturally, beasts found a human-shaped figure easier to hate than a steel mannequin.

Especially when there was a half-burned mana cigarette at that person's feet.

"Hui, you crazy bastard...!"

Historia began round two against the rampaging King of Cats.

Footnotes:

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